Monday, October 4, 2010

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that whenever something becomes hugely popular, will also become the object of ire and disdain by some solely for the sake of being contrarian. Twilight, a young-adult “vampire-romance” (is that a subgenre now, Wikipedia?) novel written by Stephenie Meyer, is widely adored by 13-year-old girls and 40-year-old housewives nationwide, yet reviled Internet book-critics. Why all the hate?

From what I've gleaned from friends and various Internet forums (mainly Reddit), the consensus boils down to the following points:

  1. It gives young, impressionable girls unrealistic expectations of sexual relationships;

  2. It is poorly written;

  3. It depicts vampires in an unrealistic manner;

  4. It turned my girlfriend/wife/SO into a vampire-loving whore, and I am now being compared to Edward Cullen at every turn;

  5. And finally, the fanbase is largely pants-on-head retarded.

To which I say...

  1. Disney has been doing it for eighty-seven years, and nobody bitches about how The Little Mermaid curtails female independence.

  2. This remains to be seen, but in my experience most young-adult novels aren't beacons of literary excellence.

  3. As there are no historical records of vampires in existence, this particular point of criticism is void. Alternatively, would you prefer every literary trope to remain static and unchanging?*

  4. Why blame Ms. Meyer for the failings of your own relationship?

  5. You could look at anything that is widely popular and find equally stupid fans, and the converse is also true. Not everyone who plays Dungeons & Dragons lives in their parents' basement, not ever pro-footballer runs a dog-fighting ring, and not every Twilight fan prefers the warm (cold?) embrace of an imaginary vampire over that of their real-life partner.

In an attempt to evaluate whether Twilight really is the literary abomination that so many claim it to be, my plan is as follows: I will read several chapters of the book every day, and blog about my experiences here. Friends have questioned my sanity in my decision to embark upon my quest, but my reasons for doing so are twofold. Firstly, as an English minor the idea that a mere book is capable of kindling such vitriol is rather curious to myself. Secondly, written anything solely for the sake of just writing for a very long time.

And thus, my very own “Twilight Saga” saga begins.

*Take high fantasy, for example. Ever since Mr. Tolkien brought Middle Earth to life, elves have possessed an ethereal beauty and excelled at ranged combat. Dwarves have lived underground, were fierce warriors, and master smiths. Orcs were evil and uncivilized. After reading about the elven scout Dal'Shirai gracefully swing down from an oak branch while her long, flaxen hair trails languidly behind her for the fifteenth time, one is ready for some change (I'm looking at you, Bioware).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

YEAHHH TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the books, not the awful movie) <3